Silicon carbide Kiln Shelves

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I have read that one doesnt need to put kiln wash on Silicon Carbide kiln shelves cause the glaze wont stick.....anyone know if this is true? I emailed kilnshelf.com to ask them as well. I really want to glaze the bottoms of my pieces, and think this may work. Are there materials that people can think of that glaze wont stick to when being fired. The bottoms dont have to be perfect when coming out of the kiln cause i have a sweet grinder, but need to find a way to glaze my bottoms....thanks.....Justin

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I have read that one doesnt need to put kiln wash on Silicon Carbide kiln shelves cause the glaze wont stick.....anyone know if this is true? I emailed kilnshelf.com to ask them as well. I really want to glaze the bottoms of my pieces, and think this may work. Are there materials that people can think of that glaze wont stick to when being fired. The bottoms dont have to be perfect when coming out of the kiln cause i have a sweet grinder, but need to find a way to glaze my bottoms....thanks.....Justin

Glazes will soak into the porous surface of a silicon carbide shelf. I have always put kiln wash on them in regular stoneware firings and for soda firing I use a high alumina content kiln wash.Glazes melt period. They will stick to whatever surface they come into contact with during the molten phase of the glaze. Think of karo syrup only not as benign.

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In my research, i have found out that stainless steel has a melting point of 2750 degrees.....wonder if i can just put a sheet of that on my kiln shelf and call it good?

glaze will stick to anything it touches when it is molten. Think flowing lava. Stainless Steel may melt at 2750 but what does it do or what is it's state at 2300? Try putting a small test piece into a firing and see what it looks like when it comes out. It will not resist the glaze.

Marcia

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If you want your pot bottoms to be glazes-use low fire clay and fire them in an electric to cone 06. At that temp you can have the pot held up with a 3 stilt metal post which leaves 3 tiny marks on bottom.

As far as silicon carbide shelves they will soak up glaze like a sponge and you will need wash on them-now lets talk about the stainless-what is your firing temp?? I am assuming its cone 10 but regardless you will find stainless a very poor choice in sheet form on top of a kiln shelve . Please test a small chunk first so that way the disaster will just be a test. Pots do not need the foot glazed as the foot is the support base in visual and functional terms.

One last not if you still want your bottoms glazed find a salt kiln as the wadding supports make for the pot bottoms to have a coating of glaze on them (except for the 3 wadding support spots)